Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Oh dear, time has flown by again since my last post. One of my recent projects has been to prepare my guest house to be rented. Finding a renter was easy; the rest took time. The tiny bungalow needed a new kitchen sink and counter, a kitchen stove, a bathroom floor, a water heater, and hook-ups for a washer and dryer. At last, I've finished the job and my renter is happily ensconced in his "new digs."

Here's a photo of my guest house, built in 1927. These are the original colors. The railings were added to make it safer for my mother and uncle who lived here for several years.

Before my mother and uncle moved in about seven years ago, I removed the icky plastic bathtub surround and decided the bathtub needed something with a little more character so I dug into my rather large supply of broken china to create a mosaic. My first and only other project had been a ten-foot-long outdoor kitchen counter and this seemed like a piece of cake. Except that I had a much tighter time frame. After days upon days of standing in the bathtub, choosing exactly which piece would be perfect for each spot, I opted to simplify by adding some plain white square tiles to fill space and I like the break it provided and the way it emphasizes the rest of the design - and I guess others like it, too. A few months later my home and this guest house were on our Historic District's annual Mothers Day Home Tour and it's been interesting every since to bump into people who blurt out - "Oh, you're the one with the bathtub!" As I was getting the place ready to rent, a sweet friend insisted that I put pictures of the tub on Pinterest so I decided it was "Blog worthy..."

I'm sorry to say I haven't done any more mosaics, even though my sister and friends continue to provide me with additions to my broken china collection - thank you! Soon I plan to start working with it again, though - it should be a nice way to complement some of my painted furniture. One of these days!